The Kayaking Trip

We were at Iguana Lodge and we were going to do a kayaking trip. We had a cool car going there. There was a little puny half-car in front, and then in the back a little bit of green covering but it was outside mostly with rubberish benches. When we were going we saw the bird that I really wanted to see. A ROSEATE SPOONBILL!!! At least three of them. They were in a swampy area with some cattle egrets I think. And the roseate spoonbills are the only pink birds in Costa Rica.

So when we got there, we introduced ourselves and met Adriana, our guide. Then we had to sign papers to know what we should do. I was with Dad in one kayak, Mom and Grace were in the other kayak, and Adriana was in her own kayak. Our kayak was blue. My paddle was yellow.

We started our kayak kind of in the ocean, and then we got to a river where there might be crocodiles, but not ferocious ones. We learned about mangrove trees, we even felt the seed - it's like a mouth and has a curly thing like a tongue in it -- it's like a clam with a tongue. There is white mangrove, two kinds of red mangrove and we think black mangrove.

The first animal we saw was the Ctenosaur or Black Iguana. In Spanish it's called Garrobo. Then we kept kayaking till we got to a little sandy place. A crocodile had been lying there before we got there. We knew because of the mark it made in the sand. And we saw a sandpiper there. And up above us we saw frigate birds and one brown pelican flying with them.

We kept on kayaking. Then we saw more mangroves and then we saw three white birds with an orange beak -- they were White Ibises. They were up in a mangrove tree. But then they flew away. We kept on kayaking. Then we got to a mangrove branch and a bird was climbing up it. It was a Green Heron, but it doesn't look so green. Then we kept on kayaking. We saw more mangroves and then Adriana said we should look for the Great Kiskadee because she heard it. So we looked and we saw one a little bit more on. Then we kept on kayaking for a little bit and a little bit more. We got kind of deep in the forest. She said that there were monkeys ahead and I thought they were Howler Monkeys, but they weren't. They were White-Faced Monkeys or called Capuchins. We saw a mama capuchin with a baby and lots of just usual white-faced monkeys.

Then we got a little out of the thick forest -- more sun came in and there were less trees. And she said that there was a snake. I could hardly even find it. It looked like a fruit sitting up in the tree. I saw it, but I just thought it was a fruit or a twisted up branch. It was a Tree Boa. But it was sleeping -- at least I'm pretty sure it was sleeping.

Then we went a little bit farther and then we turned around. And we went back. Adriana said that there was a crocodile. Mama saw a tiny bit of the tail. We just saw the ripples. They're very shy. It kind of freaked us because it went under where we were kayaking. It was an American Crocodile. Not one of the weird kind of Caimans. And then we kept on going and we saw lots of roots. She said that there was a lizard. It was all brown. Adriana knew that it was a lizard because it had a spiky back and a tail and a head. It was a Jesus Christ Lizard -- also called a Basilisk. But we didn't see it run on water -- only Dad did -- really fast. I thought that it could stand on water too, but it can't. Because it runs really fast.

And then we kept on going to where the sand and sand piper was, and there was a little path to where the ocean started and we got a tiny break. And I had a granola bar, and Grace did too. And Adriana laughed a lot. We pulled the kayaks over to the ocean. Then she said that everybody got one wave. When we got our wave, it wasn't such a good wave, so when we got in I was sitting in a bath tub in the kayak. We kept on going to where there was a big line of birds -- big birds, medium birds and small birds. There were Willets, Whimbrels and Sand Pipers. It was really hard to kayak on the ocean. Dad's back started to hurt. The waves were big and the wind was strong. And when he said that his back was hurting, I said that he should keep paddling, because that's how we could get to the end faster. But he still took a little rest. He said that he didn't want to do that.


When we got back to where we started, Adriana had a coconut with her, but we didn't eat any of it. There was a little storage place in her kayak where she pulled out a pineapple. And then she pulled out a knife. She said that it was just like pulling out a rabbit. So we had a refreshing snack of pineapple and I had a granola bar too. And that was our kayak adventure. And then we walked back to where the taxi dropped us off and it took a little while for the cab to get there and then we rode back to Iguana Lodge.

The End.